Bushwalk Australia

Hi I'm thinking of overnight walking on the plateau from lake Mackenzie. Has it recovered much from the fires or does it still look awfully burnt?

Where were you thinking of walking? The Blue Peaks track is the most affected by the fires, but only for the first half hour or so. The Lake Explorer track is not burnt at all. If you could tell me where you intended to go I could give you more specific information.

Thanks I'm not sure how far I'll get heavy pack carrying due to dodgy knees Planning to base camp and day walk from there.Any suggestions welcome. Long time since I've been there.Lake explorer could be good base or somewhere even closer to the road.

Lake Explorer itself is quite muddy and murky compared to other lakes in Tasmania. I've seen people try to cross Explorer Creek close to the lake outlet and very nearly disappear completely and have serious difficulties getting out. Much of the lake shore is the same very soft and deep silt.

There is some good camping alongside Explorer creek about half way along the creek, where there is no such mud to worry about because it flows amongst rocks.

Even there, the creek water is a little silty, but still fine to drink.

(We only camped there because the usual crossing point, further up, was at such a high flood level that it was too dangerous and we had to cut the walk short. But it was a nice spot to camp.)

I would base camp either at Sandy Lake hut or near the boat ramp at Lake MacKenzie and do day walks from there. If the lake is more than 7 metres from full you can walk across the lake bed to Sandy Lake hut straight from the boat ramp about 500 metres or so. Lake Balmoral is a nice walk from MacKenzie no real track but easy to find your way. If you go along Explorer Creek track the crossing of the Fisher River can be difficult after rain due to the depth and speed of flow. The Blue Peaks track is nice past the burnt bit.

Thanks lake Balmoral is looking very good. I'm pleasantly surprised as I thought the fires were more widespread.

The Parks and Wildlife website is advising that all Great Western Tiers huts are closed due to covid so it looks like Sandy Lake hut is not an option.

teak wrote:The Parks and Wildlife website is advising that all Great Western Tiers huts are closed due to covid so it looks like Sandy Lake hut is not an option.

Really? Huh. Got a link to that as I can't find it. Their website is a bit clunky though.

From the home page click on covid19 safety information scroll down to Walls of Jerusalem section and it mentions hut closures there. I agree the website is clunky.

Those huts are a bit manky at the best of times.

Lady lake and ironstone huts are still getting plenty of use, not sure if they're meant to be included or not.

I don't normally use huts preferring tents and no neighbours but good to know thanx